Please rate my site.

Inspector · #1 (**permalink**) 04-23-2006, 06:47 PM

www.ableinspector.com

Please look at it not only from a web design standpoint, but if you were a consumer looking for a home inspector what would you think?

Oversell, just right????

Thanks!

crush123 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-23-2006, 07:47 PM

looks ok
but a lot of text is bold or italicized that make it look odd.
especially the italic text is little difficult to read than normal text.
the background color too is not that effective.

sands · #3 (**permalink**) 04-23-2006, 09:40 PM

For those who do not have Flash your site looks more like a site plugging Flash. Otherwise the site does look very old. A good logo would do good. The blue text do look like links at first. It would be better to reduce the font size and not to have so much of text in bold. Reading the text does make you look reliable but I think there is too much of text about home inspector credentials on the home page. Instead you should be concentrating more on explaining your expertise. Also the order page does not look part of the same site what with a different font. Also using Opera I am asked first thing to sign-in.

Paul B · #4 (**permalink**) 04-24-2006, 02:59 AM

Technically:

You need a DOCUMENT declaration to start the HTML. There are 88 validation errors on the home page. Your headline should be between <H1> tags, not <font size=5> (for SEO reasons if nothing else). A style sheet would save a lot of unecessary <font> code. The code needs cleaning up. Example:

Code:

<h1>


<font size=4>We are proud to provide radon testing services in Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral Florida. If you need a radontest, please give us a call. </font></p>


<font size=4></font></p>


<font size=4></font></p></h1>

The use of Flash does nothing to improve the site - to the contrary, it is shutting out those few % of browsers without Flash. The right menu: some items don't fit!

Design:

The site contains a mass of very useful information, but this content let down by poor presentation. There is inconsistent font use (CSS would help greatly here). The radon page for example uses Verdana and doesn't fit either. Others use Times.

The tropical image at the top of each page is really little to do with home inspection until we read that you are in Florida. Your location needs to be linked to the image. Try and imagine that you know nothing about your business, can you tell instantly from one glance what the site is about? Even "25 Years of Engineering and Inspecting Experience!" may confuse home owners - as it doesn't mention houses, you could be an automobile engineer!

However, the most important part of the site - content, and original and useful content - is there. It just needs packaging to look professional. It's funny how experts from other fields, think that they can be expert website builders too. I think your site is worth handing to a professional website company. After all, you don't expect a website designer to inspect homes....

Research Bank · #5 (**permalink**) 04-24-2006, 07:49 PM

From an immediate perspective of visiting your site I feel that there are too many different fonts for my personal taste. Other than that, from a non techie point of view the site works, it tells you all about you and how to contact etc. Good job

Inspector · #6 (**permalink**) 04-25-2006, 12:26 AM

Thanks everyone - GREAT feedback. I do appreciate it.

I am aware of the font inconsistencies, believe me it used to be a lot worse. I've been working hard to correct them.

Any you're right that I should probably turn it over to a pro. Only thing is I want to update it constantly and if I were to hire a pro, could I still do that?

I'm doing my best to start authoring articles and getting them published. I also want to post them on my site, even if it's midnight.

The H1 tag issue is something I'll look at. I had no idea. One more reason to hire a pro, right?

I also had no idea there was even flash on the site. I'm not even sure what purpose it's serving in this case.

Inspector · #7 (**permalink**) 04-25-2006, 12:29 AM

Here's my latest article if you'd like to read it
http://www.ableinspector.com/Choosing-a-home

About the italics. I agree they're hard to read and I don't like them. However it's supposed to be a quote. If you have an idea on how to get accross that it's a quote without italics, I'd like to hear it.

Inspector · #8 (**permalink**) 04-25-2006, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sands

It would be better to reduce the font size and not to have so much of text in bold. .

Do you mean all of the font size, or just some of the font sizes?

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